Liquor might not solve all your problems.
But it’s worth a shot.
And there’s probably no better place to examine the hypothesis than at TT (formerly TT Liquor) on Shoreditch’s Kingsland Road – because it has a full four storeys’ worth of high-proof experiences, cocktails, and masterclasses with which to test it.
The building itself is a huge, converted Victorian police station that looks like, well, like it’s been converted from a Victorian police station: brick walls, stone slab floors, and caged liquor bottles (framed by their captors with subtle low light) surround the beautifully aged wooden fittings. Here’s how it all breaks down:
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GROUND FLOOR | The Liquor Store
You’ll enter TT through what looks like an innocent side street liquor store, before drinking in the sight of over 1,000 different booze bottles populating the shelves. The selection varies from garden variety to ultra-rare vintages, and is buttressed by gift sets, glassware, and lockable “deposit boxes” for you to keep anything you purchase on-site. Of course, there’ll be a bewilderingly knowledgeable shopkeeper on hand to talk you through it all, but you could simply skip straight to the next step –
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BASEMENT | The Cocktail Bar
Downstairs, TT’s vintage-style cellar bar is surrounded by small alcove areas which formerly made up the jail cells (the reprobates they host these days are probably there to take one of the guided ‘tasting experiences’ including classes on whisky, rum, gin, plus local & worldwide beers). The original cocktails are crafted around a different theme every few months – currently their menu celebrates 50 years of hip hop with numbers like the Liquid Swords, with Hennessy, sherry, Moët Champagne and maraschino.
Alternatively, you can head up to…
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ROOFTOP | TT Restaurant
Quite possibly one of the loveliest rooftop spots in East London, TT Restaurant has a very Scandi-evoking vibe with a smart cast iron pergola, wooden furnishings and greenery scattered throughout. The whole thing is basically a big, L-shaped oasis, with tables lining one ‘arm’ and heated booths lining the other.
Capping off the end is the bar, where they’re serving a standalone spritz menu of inventive, bubbly-topped numbers like the Berlin Calling (rosé & grapefruit topped with cardamom soda), as well as wines, cocktails (including a barrel-aged Martinez) and, as you might expect, draught rhubarb cider. But you should really come up here for the food: ex-Oren chef Sam Lone is making use of the stone asado oven and plancha grill to rustle up a menu of flame-kissed dishes like flame-grilled squid with ink sauce, and smoked oyster mushrooms with Burford Brown egg yolk.
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OUT THE BACK | TT Cinema
Yes, like any self-respecting cocktail-bar-inside-a-former-police-station, they’ve converted one of the back rooms into an intimate, 52-seater screening room, with retro seating, original wooden floors and romantic lighting. TT Cinema hosts monthly screenings of classic films, from The Big Lebowski to The Italian Job, each of which come with a complimentary welcome cocktail inspired by the film itself.
And if that impresses you enough, you can always book into…
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TOP FLOOR | The Masterclasses
The upper deck of TT holds a creative workshop space for booze-soaked cocktail masterclasses – they’ve been teaching the art of shaking/stirring/drinking here for several years, and they’ve got the practice down to a fine art.
Just pray they don’t give you any, ugh, homework.
NOTE: TT is open Tuesday-Saturday (liquor store also open Mondays). You can book a table – or one of their masterclasses, screening nights and tasting experiences – right HERE.
TT | 17b Kingsland Road, E2 8AA
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